Jennie Peterson Yu, Jimmy Chang, Yiu Hing Wong and Ka-Leung Moon
This paper explores the fast fashion transformation in the apparel textile industry and subsequent impacts on fabric manufacturing and the development processes. Characterized by…
Abstract
This paper explores the fast fashion transformation in the apparel textile industry and subsequent impacts on fabric manufacturing and the development processes. Characterized by clothing styles with shorter life cycles, faster unit production, and impulse purchasing (Bruce & Daly, 2006), the reactive fast fashion business approach captures market trends and reflects those styles in constantly changing merchandise (Fernie, 2004). Manufacturers must maximize their competitive advantages in their production strategies, business models, and activities toward achieving retailers' fast fashion requirements. Competitive suppliers along the supply chain continuously innovate and adjust production and development methods to improve delivery lead-times and prices while maintaining quality requirements (Christopher & Peck, 1999). This paper will explore the impacts and changes in fabric development processes in response to the fast fashion retail strategy.
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Brenda Sternquist, Carol A. Finnegan and Zhengyi Chen
China’s economy is transforming at a brisk pace. A partially dismantled command economy and introduction of competition have fueled consumer demand for a greater selection of…
Abstract
China’s economy is transforming at a brisk pace. A partially dismantled command economy and introduction of competition have fueled consumer demand for a greater selection of innovative new products in the retail market. The challenge for retail buyers is to adjust their procurement processes to respond to consumer needs in an efficient and effective manner. This study examines factors influencing buyer‐supplier relationships in a transition economy. We present a model to explain the factors driving retail buyer dependence on suppliers. We find that retailer evaluation of supplier credibility mediates the relationship between retailer perceptions of a supplier ability to add value to its business and the ability to achieve its desired goals. In part, this is due to the supplier’s market orientation. Interestingly, guanxi ties have no impact on the retailer perceptions of the supplier credibility, but have a positive affect on retailer dependence on its supplier partners.
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Daniel Chi‐wing Ho, Yung Yau, Siu‐kei Wong, Alex King‐chung Cheung, Kwong‐wing Chau and Hing‐fung Leung
There has been a growing public concern over the importance of building management in apartment buildings. However, people's views toward the effects of building management on…
Abstract
Purpose
There has been a growing public concern over the importance of building management in apartment buildings. However, people's views toward the effects of building management on building performance have long been divergent due to a lack of empirical study. This study aims to empirically test the relationship between building management regimes and the conditions of private apartment buildings in Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
An assessment scheme was developed to assess the health and safety conditions of 134 apartment buildings. Multiple regression models were then applied to analyze the effect of building management regimes on building conditions. The optimal functional form of the regression models was selected using Box‐Cox transformation.
Findings
The empirical results suggested that the presence of incorporated owners and property management agents (PMA) are significant factors in enhancing building conditions.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was confined to single block buildings located in one particular district in Hong Kong. Further research is needed to validate the findings in estate‐type developments as well as those in other districts.
Practical implications
The empirical results assisted building owners in determining which management regimes to adopt should they want better building conditions. The government may also consider giving more support to owners by incorporating them and employing PMAs to create a pleasant living environment for society.
Originality/value
Our study is the first in the literature to provide an empirical test reconciling the divergent views toward the effects of building management with the conditions of buildings.
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The purpose of this paper is to make sense of the slow and frustrating process of democratization in Hong Kong through understanding the pan-democrats’ struggle for realizing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make sense of the slow and frustrating process of democratization in Hong Kong through understanding the pan-democrats’ struggle for realizing universal suffrage. It aims to offer possible explanations for the current political impasse between Hong Kong and mainland China over the issue of universal suffrage.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper seeks to construct a triangular model of institutional constraint, clashing visions of democracy and mutual political distrust for understanding the pan-democrats’ struggle for realizing universal suffrage in Hong Kong since the 1980s, the nature of current political predicament they found themselves in and the current political impasse between the pan-democrats and Beijing.
Findings
The dilemma facing Hong Kong’s pan-democrats and Beijing’s leadership is attributed to the institutional constraints of Basic Law on Hong Kong’s system of governance, the clashing visions of Beijing-led Chinese-style democracy and Western-style liberal democracy as advocated by the pan-democrats and the mutual political distrust between the two parties. The findings suggest that this triangular model will remain relevant in understanding the political predicament of the pan-democrats under Chinese rule and the political impasse between Hong Kong and mainland China over universal suffrage for the coming decades.
Originality/value
This paper provides a new interpretation of the current political impasse between Hong Kong and mainland China over the issue of universal suffrage. It offers new insights into the nature of current political predicament the pan-democrats found themselves in amidst their fight for realizing universal suffrage since the 1980s by constructing a triangular model of institutional constraints, clashing visions of democracy and mutual political distrust.
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The purpose of this paper is to assess critically the political challenges facing Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” policy following the Umbrella Movement and to evaluate the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess critically the political challenges facing Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” policy following the Umbrella Movement and to evaluate the territory’s democratic and autonomous future.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical, contextual, and analytical approach has been adopted to evaluate the problems and prospects for post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong.
Findings
The contradictions embedded in the “one country, two systems” policy have become apparent since the Umbrella Movement arose and Hong Kong’s political and democratic future is as problematic as its prospects are uncertain, though the possibility of some rapprochement between Hong Kong and Beijing should not be ruled out completely.
Research limitations/implications
The critical evaluation offered by this paper is no scientific prediction. Social scientific analysis of this kind is suggestive rather than definitive. The informed discussion offered by this paper will help readers to better understand the strengths and weaknesses inherent in Beijing’s “one country, two systems” policy and the tortuous process of democratization in Hong Kong. The conclusion drawn in the paper points to a possible way out of the political impasse that is facing post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong.
Originality/value
This paper is a pioneering study of the most important political conflict between Beijing and Hong Kong since 1997, the conclusion of which may have important political and policy implications for both China and Hong Kong.
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Since the launch of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) in 2003, Hong Kong cinema is believed to have confronted drastic changes. Hong Kong…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the launch of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) in 2003, Hong Kong cinema is believed to have confronted drastic changes. Hong Kong cinema is described to be dying, lacking creative space and losing local distinctiveness. A decade later, the rise of Hong Kong – China coproduction cinema under CEPA has been normalized and changed the once pessimism in the industry. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how Hong Kong cinema adjusted its production and creation in the first 10 years of CEPA.
Design/methodology/approach
Beginning with a review of the overall development, three paradigmatic cases are examined for reflecting upon what the major industrial and commercial concerns on the Hong Kong – China coproduction model are, and how such a coproduction model is not developed as smooth as what the Hong Kong filmmakers expected.
Findings
Collectively, this paper singles out the difficulties in operation and the limit of transnationality that occur in the Chinese context for the development of Hong Kong cinema under the Hong Kong – China coproduction model.
Originality/value
This is the author’s research in his five-year study of Hong Kong cinema and it contributes a lot to the field of cinema studies with relevant industrial and policy concern.
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The purpose of this paper is to assess the intra-party conflicts in Hong Kong’s Democratic Party (DP) and their implications for broader democratic processes in the territory. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the intra-party conflicts in Hong Kong’s Democratic Party (DP) and their implications for broader democratic processes in the territory. It also examines some other thematic issues including: the party’s policy decision-making process, candidate selection, party membership and mergers, and their overall relevance for democratisation in Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
The study gives a historical review of intra-party conflicts. The concept of factionalism is applied to better understand the DP in Hong Kong’s political space.
Findings
Hong Kong is unique and popular models of party conflicts are hardly applicable to the country. Intra-party conflict is an obvious, expected conflict because of differences in formation, leadership, manifestoes and ideologies. The present author tries to examine the case with a view to making a novel contribution.
Originality/value
The study of political factionalism is not uncommon in Hong Kong but this paper intends to study intra-party elite conflicts and self-democratisation of the Hong Kong DP as a case study which is seldom addressed. Consolidation is a possible scenario and its presence is evident when political elites increasingly demonstrate commitment towards creating a democratic regime and when they hold strong beliefs in democratic procedures and institutions as crucial to governing public life.